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All I Really Need To Know I Learned in
Kindergarten is a book of short essays by American minister and author Robert Fulghum.
It was first published in 1986.

The title of the book is taken from the first essay in the
volume, in which Fulghum lists lessons normally learned in American
kindergarten
classrooms and explains how the world would be improved if adults
adhered to the same basic rules as children, i.e. sharing, being
kind to one another, cleaning up after themselves, and living "a
balanced life" of work, play, and learning.

The book contains fifty short essays, ranging in length from
approximately 200 to approximately 1,000 words, which are
ruminations on topics ranging from surprises, holidays, childhood, death, and the lives of interesting people
including Mother
Teresa. In his introduction, Fulghum describes these as having
been "written over many years and addressed to friends, family, a
religious community, and myself, with no thought of publication in
book form."

Contents

Reception

Although widely published, quoted and cited in other essays,
Fulghum's essays (especially the title piece) have also been
criticized as trite and saccharine. Fulghum addresses this in an
essay in his subsequent book, It
Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It wherein he mentions
"grown-up" subjects such as sexuality.

Musical
adaptation

Fulghum worked with Ernie Zulia (Director) and David Caldwell
(composer and music director) to create a musical based on Kindergarten,
bearing the same name. It was premiered at Mill
Mountain Theatre (Roanoke, VA) in June, 1992, and was also
presented by the Phoenix Theatre
(Indianapolis) in 1996. The same personnel also created another
musical production of the third book in his trilogy, Uh
Oh, called Uh Oh, Here Comes Christmas, which also
premiered at Mill Mountain Theater in December 1998.

Cultural
influence

Over nearly two decades, the title essay, "All I Really Need To
Know I Learned in Kindergarten," has spawned countless parodies
involving television shows, movies, books, and other phenomena.[1] The
standard format mirrors Fulghum's own work, starting with "All I
Really Need To Know I Learned From [name]," followed by a list of
quotes and/or in-jokes from the subject being parodied.